Through A Looking Glass, Darkly
by Kitty Fowl
Summary: Once Wonderland was saved and she was back home, Alice expected a normal, even boring, life. However it's not long before she and Hatter find themselves in Wonderland. But not just Wonderland. It's a darker, twisted, alternate version. Oh, joy. Not again.
1. Chapter 1

**THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS, DARKLY**

**Chapter One: Mirror, Mirror**

Alice turned slowly around, taking in everything about her new Hatter-and-Mom-approved apartment. Now that everything was moved in and set up, she was starting to feel more and more at home in her new place. She smiled, giving her room one more satisfied glance before falling backwards onto the comfy blankets on her bed. Alice wore a soft, red, brocade top with a thin white border, her favorite pair of jeans, and a new pair of padded white flats. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, with a small lock of her hair falling in front of her eyes. Sitting up, she crossed her arms contentedly and got to her feet, glancing for the tenth time at the clock on her wall. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon. Well, **someone** was certainly running late…

Turning away from the clock, Alice unavoidably came face to face with her…well, face. A large, full-length mirror hung neatly on the wall, bringing back memories and feelings that couldn't really be put to words. Stepping a bit closer, Alice placed a hand delicately on the mirror, staring at her likeness with the appearance of someone deep in thought. Suddenly, experimentally, she pushed hard against the reflection surface, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, as though she expected to fall through the mirror to another world. She pressed with all of the force she could muster with some sort of impulsive desire to make a nonexistent portal open, wanting to fall through to another crazy adventure, even though she hadn't wanted the last one. Alice blinked, and removed her hand from the mirror. Nothing. That was good, wasn't it? If it was, why did she feel so disappointed?

Because apparently, Alice had never learned to be careful what she wished for.

The door opened and Alice immediately spun around warily. Her minor freak out was the result of lingering feelings of suspicion and paranoia from her recent surprise-ridden, danger-filled jaunt through what was supposed to be a children's story, albeit a creepy, twisted one. She took a deep, relaxing breath after realizing that it was just Hatter with a cliché bouquet of roses and an apologetic smile.

"You're late." Alice scowled teasingly, wrapping her arms around him playfully before kissing him, a sign that all was forgiven. Even though he'd promised to be here two hours ago.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly, giving her a penitent smile. "But I brought flowers."

"You were supposed to be here at twelve," Alice pointed out, flicking the brim of her boyfriend's hat. "What happened?"

To her surprise, Hatter seemed to tense up a bit. And was it just her imagination, or had he blushed a bit. "Oh, you know. Just…got held up a bit."

Alice cocked an eyebrow. "Held up how?" She prompted, waiting.

"…What'd you do to your mirror, Alice?" Not only was it a quick, convenient subject change, it was also a valid question. Alice looked over her shoulder, following Hatter's gaze. The mirror had a large, very noticeable hand print on it, one too well-preserved and clearly defined to have been from a quick, fleeting, or even just light touch. The mirror almost seemed to be dented from Alice's previous pushing. Alice blinked in surprise. Had she really pushed that hard? And, even more importantly, why had she been pushing to begin with? "Alice?"

The brunette looked up when she heard her name. "Oh, I…just kind of tripped. Fell against it," she lied, mostly because she didn't know what to say otherwise. That she'd been longing for another adventure since leaving Wonderland? That she'd been hoping her mirror would take her someplace new and exciting? That she was bored with the regular life she'd fought so hard to get back to? Yea…no. Not something she wanted to bring up. Considering she was a little mad at herself for it, the thought of admitting it made her a little queasy. No thank you, Alice Hamilton would be passing on the queasy tonight.

"Right." Hatter gave her a look, but otherwise accepted her answer without a challenge. It was sort of a boyfriend/person-you-saved-the-world-with thing. You know. One of those.

"So now that we've completely missed our reservation…" Alice began, leaving the statement open as a question as to what they should do now, turning the tables back on Hatter. His move.

Hatter tipped his head to the side, thinking. "We could just…you know…hang out. And talk." He suggested a bit pathetically.

Alice nodded with a shrug. "Talking is nice." She said, to her boyfriend's relief. Guiding him to the end of the bed, she sat down, and he followed suit. "So…"

"So…"

Awkward.

"…Is that a new hat?" Alice managed, spitting out the first thing she'd thought of.

Hatter gave her a look. "Not really."

"Didn't think so."

Even more awkward.

Eventually, Hatter stood up, moving toward Alice's mirror to break up the lack of subject-induced silence. "Honestly, Alice, how did you manage to dent this…" his hand passed through the apparently not-so-solid reflective surface like it was just moving through thin air. A few uncomfortable shock-filled moments of staring later, something grabbed his hand on the other side. "Oh, crap." Alice had barely had time to jump to her feet before her boyfriend was pulled through to the other side.

"HATTER!" Alice charged through the mirror, ignoring the blatant déjà vu as she came out on the other side in what was presumably another world. And not just into another world. A rather one-sided **fight** in another world. Just lovely.

And now she **had** learned to be careful what she wished for. Well, better late than never, right?

Alice's instincts kicked in immediately. Half a second after she was out of the mirror, she was already round-housing a badly dressed man in what looked like a cheap imitation Star Trek uniform. In other words, the guy was pretty much dressed for epic fail. So I dare you to guess what he did.

The brunette black belt sent him spinning, whirling around to backhand someone else. Someone just as badly dressed. The results were the same. He fell. Hard. Alice moved on, not very worried about him getting back up after she stomped a foot casually on his stomach. Not very sophisticated, but hey, what worked, worked. She looked around quickly, assessing the situation. As talentless as these guys were, twenty against two wasn't very fair. Alice glanced around frantically until she spotted Hatter. On the ground. And, if the expression on his face was any hint, in pain. Catching her eye, Alice's boyfriend managed to gasp out an expectant, "Little help?"

Alice responded by jamming her fist into the stomach of the closest Captain Kirk wannabe, flipping him over her shoulder with practiced ease. With another perfect roundhouse, she sent someone else soaring, not caring what she did, just that Hatter was okay. In a flurry of butt-kicking movement, Alice kicked, punched, spun, and threw anyone who got in her way. It was like a couple of cocky, inexperienced four year-olds going up against a…well, a black belt who was having a fit of rage. The result was as expected. Alice won. By a lot. And she could hardly even remember the moves she'd used to do it. She reached out a hand, helping Hatter to his feet. "You okay?"

"Fine," he gasped, still trying to catch his breath. He held up a hand, putting the conversation on hold until he could handle more than just a one-word sentence. "Too many at once. What the hell just happened?" Alice assumed he meant the mirror. And she didn't have an answer. Hatter hadn't expected one. He walked over to where the mirror sat, propped casually against a tree, one of very few in the wide open field they'd come into. He pushed his hand against the mirror, expecting something to happen. Guess what happened. Go on, guess.

Nothing.

"Oh, no. No, no, you have **got **to be kidding me."

Sorry, Hatter. The mirror doesn't kid.

"Come on!"

Not even when you punch it.

"Hey!" Alice said loudly, taking her boyfriend's arm. "How is that helping?"

"Well it's making me feel better." Hatter said, staring intently at the mirror as if it would help. It didn't of course, but that didn't stop him from doing it anyway.

Pushing him aside, Alice pressed her hand against the mirror for the second time that day. Just in case, she gave an experimental push, with no luck. Frowning, she stepped back and sighed loudly. "Well this sucks." Alice looked around. The would-be crew of the USS Enterprise had long sense run home to their mommies, and there was no one else around for as far as she could see in any direction. "Yep. This sucks." She ran her fingers through her hair, something quite a lot of people do when they're stressed.

"All right," Hatter took a deep, calming breath. "All right, let's think about this. The mirror hasn't done this before…right."

"No, of course not." Alice shook her head. "There's got to be some sort of trigger, like the Stone of Wonderland. Something the mirror won't work without." She massaged her forehead gently, trying to think. "It has to have been something new, 'cuz we've both touched the thing before and nothing's happened until today." Alice, distracted by her own labyrinth of theories and thoughts, didn't notice the wide-eyed, no-it-couldn't-be sort of look spreading across Hatter's face.

"Oh…I-,"

"I mean, where are we, anyway?" Alice broke in before he could get out another sound. She whirled around, turning to face her boyfriend. "You think that mirror could've brought us back to Wonderland?"

Hatter stood open-mouthed for a moment, contemplating whether to go back to his original, interrupted confession or skirt the subject and move on to this one. "No clue." He answered after a moment with a shrug. The second, safer route had won out in the end, and he looked around. "If so, Jack has even worse taste in clothes than I thought…and he's probably gone a bit evil..."

Alice shook her head immediately. "No. Not Jack. Besides, we don't even know if we **are** in Wonderland."

"Well, if we are, it's no place in Wonderland I've ever been."

Alice blinked. "Maybe we should find someone. You know, someplace where we can figure out where we are and what's going on." Hatter nodded, because there wasn't much else they could've done. Well, actually, there was plenty of other stuff they could've done, but it was all either completely irrelevant or wouldn't have helped. For example, technically, they could've burst into song and had their own musical right then and there, but that wouldn't have helped them in the slightest, now would it? No, it wouldn't have. And besides, that required a certain degree of insanity that most people out of a madhouse did not possess. Unless, of course, they also possessed the cleverness and skills to break out of said madhouse, but…well, that's not the point. That's not the point at** all**.

So, taking the more sensible, and much less melodious, option, the two of them set out to solve the mass of unanswered questions buzzing around in their heads. Of course, you know what they say: curiosity killed the cat. And the death of a kitty is always a sad thing.

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**Hello there! I know that I've got other fanfictions up and I'm supposed to be working hard on them, but I've been so completely OBSESSED with Alice these days that it's pretty much the only thing on my mind. And since I really wasn't ready to let Alice and Hatter go yet, I shoved them through another mirror and started writing! Oh, and here's something important:**

**If I ever have anyone OOC, have left a plot hole, am writing a Mary Sue, etc, please tell me IMMEDIATELY so that I can take care of it! It would be super-duper-AWESOME of you! Also, any suggestions or comments, feel free to drop me a line by clicking that wonderful, much-loved button down there at the bottom of your screen. Look at it. Isn't it pretty? "Review this Story/Chapter". Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Also, if I ever go forever and ever without updating, feel free to PM me and yell. **

**OH YEAH! ONE MORE UBER-IMPORTANT THING:**

**Hope you liked it! :)**

**~Love, Kitty**


	2. Chapter 2

**OH MY GOD! Thirteen reviews on one chapter, and that's not even counting all the favorites and story alerts! That would undoubtedly be a personal record! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited, author/story alerted, or heck, even if you read it and nothing else, YOU ROCK! Thanks so much everyone!

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THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS, DARKLY

**Chapter Two: Armed And Dangerous**

"Nice to meet you. I'm Shay." A young woman, probably in her early twenties, shook hands with Alice, then Hatter, smiling. She had long blonde hair that reached her about halfway down her chest, and clear blue eyes. She wore a pair of oddly pristine white jeans, black leather boots, a black studded belt, and a lightweight baby blue strapless top, as well as a thin white choker with a thick black line through its middle. She looked both very pretty and very dangerous. Not particularly black belt-dangerous like Alice, but pickpocket-you-mid-kiss kind of dangerous. Nevertheless, she was the only person the confused couple had run into so far, and she seemed nice enough.

"Alice," the black belt introduced herself politely.

"Hatter."

"Laconic." Shay raised an eyebrow, smiling. "You guys new around here? I've never seen either of you before."

"Yeah, we're from…" Alice trailed off, not sure how much to say. They'd only met her after all, and less than fifty words wasn't much to go on. Especially when most were just the introduction.

"Out of town." Hatter finished quickly for Alice, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Shay looked intrigued. "Really? Out of town? How far out of town? And more importantly," she stepped closer to Hatter, positioning herself only inches apart from his face. Looking him dead in the eye, she ran a finger mischievously around the brim of his hat. "Staying long?"

Beside her, Alice noticeably tensed. Shay caught the slight movement out of the corner of her eye and stepped back. "You're dating." She concluded matter-of-factly, not sounding embarrassed or apologetic at all. "Or you both like each other. Or you're in denial." She shrugged. "People do that."

"Dating." Alice told her firmly, instinctively stepping a bit closer to her boyfriend. "We're dating."

Shay nodded approvingly. "So, where 'ya headed? Maybe I can help?" The couple exchanged a quick glance, wondering how much was too much. The blonde girl caught it, and narrowed her eyes slightly, thinking. "You came from…that direction, didn't you?" she asked softly, glancing over their shoulders. "By the looking glass…" she jerked her head back to look at them suspiciously. "…Through the looking glass…"

Busted.

Reactions were instantaneous. Hatter whipped out a gun from the inside of his coat. Shay pulled one from her back pocket, and within seconds, both of them were pointing their weapons at each other, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"Look, we don't want any trouble." Alice told the blonde, hoping to keep things from escalating any further.

Shay frowned, all hints of friendliness gone. "Hell, neither do I. So I suggest you tell me what you're doing here and what you want. Like, now."

"Hold on. What makes you think you're giving the orders here?" Hatter demanded loudly, glaring intently at the blonde girl before him.

Completely unnerved, Shay moved her hand to the right a few inches so that her gun was pointing at Alice. "She does." She answered calmly, the unveiled threat doing nothing to soften her suddenly steely, powerful voice. "See, all I have to do is pull the trigger, and then it doesn't matter if you shoot me, 'cuz you're girlfriend dies anyway." Shay shrugged coldly, uncaring. "Wanna see?" Hatter stepped defensively in front of Alice. "Oh. Well have it your way then. I'll just shoot you and your girlfriend can watch **you** bleed to death. It's all the same to me, really. Put the gun away, dimwit."

Picking up on her boyfriend's hesitation, Alice put a hand on his arm. "We have to trust somebody, Hatter."

"Yes, Alice. Let's trust the girl pointing a gun at us, that's the way to do it!"

"You really should listen to your girlfriend, love." Shay put in. "After all, when the choices are, 'keep pointing my gun and get shot' or 'put my gun away and **don't** get shot', I tend to go with the option that doesn't involve a tragic and painful death for either me or the person I care about most."

After a moment, Hatter complied. Because neither him nor Alice dying was very high on his to do list. Actually, it wasn't very low on his to do list, either. That was because he didn't have a to do list, but that is completely irrelevant to the plot.

"Okay then." Shay said softly, but didn't lower her gun. "So what're you doing here? No, wait, more importantly, how did you get here?"

"We came through the looking glass," Hatter said in a slow voice as though talking to a four-year old.

"Yes, Hatter. Let's taunt the girl pointing a gun at us, that's the way to do it!" Alice elbowed him in the stomach. And she had a point.

"Yeah. Got that. How'd you get through the looking glass? That thing hasn't worked for years, and the only way to get from Wonderland to Earth is with a ring that hasn't been seen in, like, over a decade."

"A ring?" Alice asked.

"Wonderland?" Hatter repeated, surprised.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say that too fast for you?" Shay scowled. "Yeah, Wonderland. Ring. Portal. Mirror. Are we done with the one-word guide to the painfully obvious?"

Ignoring her taunting, Hatter focused on the more serious side to the conversation. The side that didn't involve Shay's threatening, flirting, or her oddly Australian accent. "The ring. The Stone of Wonderland, right?"

"Yeah…no. No. The **Light **of Wonderland. Close, but no cigar, angel. Where the hell did you get 'Stone of Wonderland'?"

"From the **real** Wonderland, where, by the way, I happen to be from." Hatter told her, feeling rather proud of himself indeed.

Shay looked annoyed for a moment, but suddenly that no-it-couldn't-be face made its second appearance that day and she put her free hand to her forehead. "Oh my God. Oh wow." She groaned, sounding abruptly tired, like she'd had a very long day. Well, that was too bad for her, because it was only going to get longer. Well, not **actually** longer, because days are always twenty-four hours, but just metaphorically speaking…wait, you'd already figured that out, hadn't you? Clever little readers.

"What?" Alice asked, surprised by Shay's sudden change in behavior. Hatter took a slightly different (read: violent) approach. Let's check the dictionary, shall we? Ah, there it is. 'Different. Dif-er-ent. Taking advantage of Shay's momentary distraction to knock the gun out of her hand and twist her arm behind her back painfully, causing her to drop to her knees on the ground. Synonym: effective. Antonym: Waiting patiently for the nice, gun-toting, threat-making girl to explain.'

…This…this is a strange dictionary.

"Tell us about the Light of Wonderland." Hatter demanded, apparently completely missing the significance of the look on Shay's face when she'd gotten distracted enough for him to get the upper hand.

Shay snorted. "Would you look at that? Puppy's got a mean streak."

Noticeably annoyed by that comment, and rightfully so, Hatter kicked the blonde in the back, which, when you thought about it, was the **less**painful alternative considering, that she was on her knees. Pretty much the only other kickable place was the back of her head. But kicking someone in the back of their head usually causes brain damage or unconsciousness, neither of which would've helped him and Alice at all. Like bursting into song and having their own musical right then and there, only even less accommodating, which was very hard to do, considering that singing about somewhere over the rainbow or walking through the fire tended to both attract the bad guys and occasionally be annoying. You know, just occasionally. 'Cuz most of the time spontaneous professional-looking choreography paired with everyone's suspiciously brilliant vocals for a spur of the moment, completely unrehearsed breakaway pop hit is usually such a wonderful thing to behold…I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?

Oh. Oh, yeah.

Shay let out a sort of pained gasp, but simply snarled unhelpfully, "Screw you, puppy. I do **nothing**on command." She pushed herself up onto just her knees, getting the rest of her body off the ground, and forcefully straightened both of her legs. Her feet slammed into Hatter's stomach, knocking him backwards. Shay stood up, swinging her leg up in roundhouse kick that barely missed connecting with Hatter's face. Not giving up yet, the blonde grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled her knee up into his stomach.

"Hatter!" The brunette moved to intervene, but Hatter held up a hand, stopping her.

"Hang on, Alice. I got this one." And, to prove his point, he aimed a very close-ranged punch and hit his challenger square in the jaw.

Shay stepped back, hand flying to her pained jaw. "You little…" she murmured before spitting out a mouthful of blood. Suddenly, surprisingly, a small smile crept onto her lips. "Not bad." She said softly, then crossed her arms in front of her chest. "So you're from Wonderland?"

For a moment, Hatter seemed unsure as to whether or not he should continue the fight, however, he simply nodded and said, "Yeah. Why?"

Shay sighed. "Okay look. There's your Wonderland, and there's my Wonderland. There's her Earth," she added, gesturing to Alice as she retrieved her gun. "And then there's an alternate Earth that, presumably, none of us have ever been to. But it still exists. Somewhere out there, there is an alternate copy of every person, every place, everything. Now, most of the time, every world stays relatively cut off from the others, however, they're all linked through mirrors. But most portals require some sort of trigger to open. Like," she took a deep breath, as though having trouble believing what she was about to say. "The Stone of Wonderland and the Light of Wonderland. The fact that they're both rings is purely coincidental. Point is, their respective looking glasses aren't gonna work without them."

Alice and Hatter stared at each other for a moment. Then another moment. Then a couple more, taking it all in. "All right," Alice managed eventually. "You're saying that there's an alternate version of everything somewhere in some world?"

"Everything, everyone." Shay confirmed, nodding.

"And we just happened to turn up in alternate Wonderland?" Hatter asked skeptically. "Now what're the odds of that?"

"They're not the best, I'll admit, but I'm pretty sure about this, and I wouldn't lie to…well, okay, I undoubtedly would, but I'm not lying now." Shay said seriously, apparently forgetting for a moment that openly admitting that you would, without a doubt, lie to someone does **not** improve your believability much. Actually, it sort of destroys all traces of it. Catching Alice's disbelieving look, Shay sighed. "For God's sake Alice, your boyfriend is supposed to be a fictional character in a story that disturbs children of all ages! And what's more, it was written by the guy that invented the word 'snicker-snack'! **Snicker-snack**! What the hell kind of a word is that?" Technically, it's an onomatopoeia, Shay.

Alice frowned, and then softly admitted, "Good point." Nobody could argue with 'snicker-snack', after all.

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**I UPDATED! ...but you already knew that, didn't you? ****Seriously, you can't argue with 'snicker-snack'. Go on. Try. On second thought, screw arguing with it and just SAY it, for Pete's sake! 'Snicker-snack'! Come on! **

**So, anyway, we have a new character. I wanted Shay to be kind of weird and have sort of a love/hate thing with Hatter, but what do YOU think of her, the story so far, and of the chapter? That's what I care about. Okay, well I'm about done, so if you would be so kind, please press that goregous button at the bottom of the page and tell me what you thought!**

**...and my God, Kelsey, you REALLY can't spell.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I meant to update a LOT earlier, but I had about half the chapter done, when out of the blew, my computer DELETES. EVERY. DOCUMENT. I. HAD. SAVED. It's been acting really glitchy laterly, and so I have to get it fixed. In other words, if I go a while without updating, that's probably why. Much more importantly, any and everyone who reviewed is AMAZING. I have TWO chapters and TWENTY-NINE reviews! This is so amazing, and thanks to everyone who reviewed!****

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**THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS, DARKLY**

**Chapter Three: Seeing Red**

Shay hopped up onto the back of the large, comfy leather loveseat Hatter and Alice were sitting on. She frowned, and after a moment, jumped off, walked around to the front. She stared at the two of them for a few seconds, and then shooed Alice closer towards Hatter as though she were going to ignore the full-sized sofa and sit down next to them. With Alice and Hatter pushed against each other, the blond nodded approvingly and returned contentedly to the back of the fancy white piece of furniture.

Hatter turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What was that for?" he asked, confused.

Shay frowned at him like he'd just asked why she was wearing clothes. "It's a loveseat, Hatter. Show the love. Obey the chair."

And Shay was, for the record, wearing clothes. In fact, she wore a delicate pearl choker, an expensive-looking white bracelet, tight white pants, black boots with at least nine-inch heels, a sleeveless black leather duster, a white flowery clip in her long, loose blonde hair, and a corset-like top that reached down below her waist, except was cut to show her belly button. All in all, apart from the black, she bore a striking resemblance to Emma Frost, for those who are X-Men savvy enough to know who that is. I, personally, am not, and am not quite sure **how** I heard of Emma Frost to begin with, but that fact remains that I have, and also that I am completely of subject, so we will now return to the story.

For a moment, Hatter considered a clever retort. Then he realized that there **was** no clever retort to the phrase 'obey the chair', so he decided to move on to what he'd been about to say before Alice was relocated to about two inches off his lap. After all, there was nothing like a good night's sleep to make one realize that you should probably not trust the girl who had pointed a gun at you and your girlfriend.

"Okay. So, we have-,"

"Hold on," Alice got to her feet, voicing the exact though on Hatter's mind. "Why should we trust you?"

Shay's eyes widened slightly as though she was genuinely confused. "Well…why shouldn't you?"

Hatter and Alice exchanged a look. "I don't know, maybe because you pointed a gun at us yesterday." The girl pointed out, crossing her arms.

"Oh, and that little quip about me bleeding to death? Yea, didn't enjoy that." Hatter added.

Shay, still looking as though she honestly didn't understand what was wrong, walked around the couch towards Alice. "But you guys spent the night at my house, didn't you?" she asked.

"That doesn't prove anything." Alice shook her head.

Where the knife had come from, nobody knew…well, actually, I did, because I'm the author. Would you like to know where? Oh, alright, I'll tell you. She had it stashed in her duster. The point was, she pulled one and pressed it to Alice's throat before neither she nor Hatter had time to react. Hatter quickly began got to his feet, but Shay simply rolled her eyes. "Aw, look. Puppy wants to play a game!" She grinned. "Wanna bet your girlfriend's life that you're faster, 'cuz that's not something I'd like to gamble with." This time, Shay turned, catching him dead in the eye. "Sit."

With the blonde temporarily distracted, Alice swung her arm up, knocking Shay's arm away from her neck and the knife from her hand. She slammed her fist into Shay's stomach, who responded by snapping her head back toward the brunette black belt, swinging up a high kick towards Alice's head. Alice dodged, and countered with a kick of her own. Shay bounced back out of the way, flipping flexibly over the high back of the loveseat. With enough time to move, she discarded her duster dramatically.

Have you ever noticed how badass people tend to wear long, billowy coat flowing out behind them, but when they want to get serious, they drop the coats and rock the fight scene? And, on a totally unrelated topic, have you ever noticed how I always get off subject at the slightest provocation?

Alice vaulted over the back of the loveseat, swinging her legs out in an epic kick. Hatter followed her, adding that famous sledgehammer punch to the fray. Shay dodged Matrix-style, bending over backwards until she was practically laying on her back, although she used her hands as well, which did, I have to admit, diminish the badass. Shay kicked, pumping her leg up into a straight vertical line, her hell heels knocking Alice a few steps back, even ripping the delicate silk-like fabric. Shay popped back to her feet, catching Hatter's next punch and holding up his arm, spinning underneath it like a dancer. Of course, most people have two hands, ant Hatter was one of those people. His other fist hit a bulls-eye on her stomach, and Shay slid backwards where Alice was waiting with a powerful kick of her own. Skidding back forward toward Hatter, Shay hit the ground and slid beneath his legs, rolling over onto her stomach to give another stiletto-sponsored kick of doom. Hatter caught her foot and broke the heel of the boot off as Shay pushed herself to her feet, landing a few moments after the damage was done. Thrown off her balance, the blonde stumbled awkwardly, unable to poise herself before Hatter sledgehammered her into the wall at the nearby end of the hallway. Shay pressed her hand to the eye he had punched dead on for a few moments as Hatter shook out his fist, ready for more.

Shay blinked and quietly murmured, "Son of a bitch." She looked up at Hatter, and her eyes narrowed in what anyone could easily identify as pure, unbridled anger. Regaining her composure, she rather pointedly removed her boots, spread her legs to a step apart, rebalancing herself, and then charged Hatter with a rhino-like force, slamming him into a wall, snarling like an angry bull. Holding his arms pinned fast against the solid surface in her iron-like grip, Shay took a few sharp, stuttering breaths, and then one long, deep, calming one. Then, she leaned close to him, pressing her body against his so intimately that he could almost feel her heart beat rapidly, and whispered softly in his ear. With Shay's unstable and unpredictable personality, Hatter honestly expected nothing less than a death threat, or very possibly actual death.

"You're cute when you're angry."

"Wha?"

Oh. Well, that wasn't not a death threat, and most **certainly** not actual death.

Shay bounced perkily out of Hatter's personal space, and spun around toward Alice. "Aw, you're shirt's ripped." She told the panting brunette sympathetically. "Come on, you can borrow one of mine, I gotta grab new shoes, anyway." She said all this casually, even helpfully, with no anger or resentment at all in her voice. In fact, she sounded almost eager to please and friendly.

Now, what question started all of this again? Oh! Oh, that's right! Alice asked why they should trust Shay. Well, now she had her answer! Wait, no she didn't…

Alice stared at Shay for quite some time, as though considering whether what she wanted to say would provoke the blonde again. Eventually, she decided to risk it. "Are you bipolar?"

Shay frowned slightly and blinked twice, rolling her eyes as though thinking hard. Eventually, she shrugged. "I don't know." She answered, taking Alice's hand. "But we have a wardrobe malfunction here, so let's go fix it!" She pulled the brunette off into a large, in fact, full-size room that served as Shay's walk-in closet, Alice shooting Hatter a helpless look as the blonde pulled her excitedly past. The door to the room slammed shut and was immediately followed by a storm of indistinguishable whispers.

So, for about ten minutes, Hatter wandered around in circles in the hall, hands tucked in his pockets, whistling a jaunty jumble of random notes because he couldn't pick a song to whistle. Of course, that's how I **always** whistle, because I happen to be a very **bad** whistler, and that's pretty much the extent of my whistling abilities. You know, I used to be able to do that thing where you whistle through your fingers, but now I can't even whistle Mary Had A Little Lamb. And, while we're on the subject of Mary Had A Little Lamb, who has a pet lamb? Unless, of course, they live on a farm. And even if she did, why weren't her parents watching this lamb, or why wasn't it fenced in? Well, maybe Mary was in college, and the lamb…jumped? Over the fence? Oh, screw this. Nobody in this story has a lamb, little, big, white, black, fenced in, or free, so we should move on, now shouldn't we?

Eventually, Shay exploded out of the room; her broken boots lay discarded in the hall along with her duster, and she had replaced the nine-inch heels with a pair of black, casual flats. She looked somewhat nervous as she explained to an expectant Hatter, "Okay, so I figured that since she didn't look really that Wonderland-y in jeans, we should just change the whole outfit. So, I present, Alice!" She swept her arms dramatically towards the door while taking a large stride out of the way.

Alice stepped through the doorway, shooting Shay a 'you're crazy' look as she smoothed out her light spaghetti-strapped red dress that fit perfectly on her body. Underneath it, she wore black leggings and black gladiator-style sandals. Her hair, now free of its ponytail, fell casually over her shoulders, and she wore an expensive-looking golden necklace clasped around her neck. "Yea, she's a weird girl." She mumbled softly, and then tipped her head slightly to the side and asked, "You like it?"

Now how did you use your voice again? Oh! Oh yea. "Yes! Good. You look good." Hatter managed, blinking as he remembered how to talk. Ignoring Shay's fist-pumping, celebratory-dancing, mini-party off to the side, he solemnly told Alice, "You look beautiful."

"Thanks." Alice said, putting her arms around him. "I can't believe I'm back in Wonderland...well, sort of."

"Oh!" Shay announced loudly. Hatter and Alice stared at her expectantly. "I totally forgot. So, our worlds are sort of mirrors. I mean, Wonderland and…well, Wonderland. But, like, if something's up in one, something's gonna get screwy in the other."

"The Casino." Alice muttered without thinking, nodding.

"Uh, okay. I'll just assume…yea, well you guys solved your problem, right?" Hatter and Alice nodded. "Though so. And if it was you two, then you're probably here to, you know, help us…I think."

Alice sighed. "Does this mean we have to bring down another evil psycho queen?"

"I think so." Hatter rubbed his forehead tiredly, the last night's sleep suddenly forever away. He looked up at Shay. "What's wrong with your Wonderland?"

"All right. Remember the ring, the Light of Wonderland I was telling you guys about? Well, it's made from this stone and it's just this big gem that sits there on the looking glass and gives of this peaceful aura and makes you feel all happy and calm-ish and blissful and junk."

"Oh, God, that's horrible!" Hatter said sarcastically, giving Shay a look.

"Shut up, I'm not done." The blonde rolled her eyes and continued. "Okay, so see, Fara, she's like crazy, psycho, queen lady, and she took at and stuck it on this amplifier thing in the palace so the entire world is like," and here she switched to a rather drunken-sounding voice, "'Oh, I'm so happy, I'll do all your work, why would I complain, it's okay if you killed my whole family, I would never have even a slight disagreement with anyone, hey, look at the pretty sword in my stomach."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "So, basically, the whole world okay with whatever anyone wants to do to them," she translated, looking at Shay for conformation.

"Well, 'zaktly," The blonde nodded, smiling and blinking deep blue eyes.

"Why aren't you affected?" Hatter asked suspiciously.

Shay's eye twitched slightly, and her smile faltered. "I have something…something to fight for." She said eventually, looking Hatter dead in the eye. "And basically it means a hell of a lot to me, so if you're gonna help me, help me, and if not, get the hell out of my way."

An awkward, solemn silence fell over the room for a minute, before Shay's happy smile returned, suddenly seeming a whole lot more Stepford, returned and she brushed lightly passed the couple to retrieve her sleeveless coat from the ground.

"Shay," Alice said, stopping the blonde, who looked up expectantly.

"We're with you." The black belt told her new friend…ish person. "But we need to know how many other people are. I mean, if this is affecting the entire world, how many other people are there that can help?"

Shay slid the duster over her shoulders and wandered over to the boots, kicking them into her 'closet' before answering. "I have friends. They have reasons, or willpower, or something, and they can help." Her answer hardly addressed the question, but something about the sudden lack of life in her voice told Alice and Hatter to back off the subject. "So, where's the ring."

Alice held up her empty hands, indicating that she didn't have it. After a moment, Hatter reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box, which, evidently, held the ring.

"Why…where…" Alice began softly. "Where'd you get it, Hatter?"

"It's…why I was late." Hatter told her eventually. "I was gonna propo-,"

"Oh, God." Shay interrupted loudly, looking around.

"What's wrong, Shay?" Alice asked immediately, picking up on the urgent tone in the blonde's voice.

"Anybody else smell smoke?" Alice and Hatter inhaled, looked at each other, and then turned back to Shay. Their shocked looks were all the conformation that she needed, if she had even needed any at all. "Oh, crap!" Shay gasped, slamming past the couple as she headed down the hall at top speed. Alice and Hatter followed worriedly. However, it wasn't long before they were running face-first into dark, billowy smoke. The trio skidded to a stop, turned around, and ran the other way. Well, two-thirds of it did. Shay stayed, frozen stock-still staring into the smoke and spreading flames.

"Shay!" Alice called, but the blonde seemed not to even hear.

"Dammit," Hatter muttered, and charged forward into the black smoke. He grabbed shay by the shoulders and pulled her towards the door. "We have to go!" he insisted to Shay, who was only blindly moving with him. Alice kicked open the nearest door and the three of them burst out into the sunlight, coughing.

"What just happened?" Alice asked softly.

Shay, suddenly snapped back to reality, shoved Hatter's comforting hands off her shoulders, stepping forward and pulling an almost wicked-looking katana from beneath her coat. She rubbed the hilt softly, as though she was trying to comfort herself somehow (because caressing a deadly blade sure makes me feel all safe and warm inside). She looked up, and turned around, giving Hatter and Alice a passionately determined and rightfully angry look. "What just happened?" she echoed softly. "They moved. White **always** moves first, Alice, haven't you ever played chess? It's been a new game since you guys showed up with the ring. Now it's our turn."

"We're black?" Hatter heard the phrase come out without intending to say it. It'd just been a thought, but he'd accidently voiced it nonetheless.

Shay turned on her heel and walked away from the house, heading between Alice and Hatter, a soft wind blowing her hair out behind her. "No," she said as Alice and Hatter fell in step behind her. "We're red."

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**Aww, poor Shay! Wasn't that just the most melodramatic chapter ending you ever see saw? Sorry, couldn't help it. :) Well, it's 2:22 AM (Make a wish!) here in Louisiana, so I should got to sleep now! That's about all I'm gonna say, so please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here's hoping you all had a happy holidays, whatever you celebrate or don't. I had a great Christmas, because I got my favorite movie (Push, for those of you who care), along with the first two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD (YAY, SPIKE!), and a Buffy callender. A very nice Buffy callendar. It's January, which is Buffy's month, and the slayer says hello. Oh, yea. I got a camera, too. Strangely, although I do love it, I'm the least excited about that present. Is that bad?**

**Well, I usually try to respond to at least most of my review on fanfictions, but for some reason, I haven't done that for this fic. So here's a big thank you to A terrible Beauty****, nightingale mistress, Labmama, MythStar Black Dragon, mystic48138, Rose of Zakarisz, JeantheDarkPhoenix, Sweetone41185, How Cynamin Rolls, BlueNewt113, XShadowCatX, Pirate Gyrl, Lele0208, Vampiric Dragonrider, Akatsuki Child, , red-eye-tree-frog, knoxalot, angel19872006, and Sassyx22x for reviewing.**

**Thanks to ****A terrible Beauty, Akatsuki Child, alittlefaithinme2, Allara, Amanda Mae, AndAct, angel19872006, ayumidah, BlueNewt113, clueless90, CoCo Darke, Cowgirl621, GrangersTwin666, GregsLabrat, gwenhwyfar, jesuislapamplemousse, knoxalot, Hikari Urania, LeftRightLeftRightLeft42, linalove, Mavan, mystic48138, MythStar Black Dragon, Nayami-Chan, Nerdygal123, ngep, nightingale mistress, , ..01, Pirate Gyrl, RayneZoey, red-eye-tree-frog, Rena Cresten, Sassyx22x, serenity56424, Since the Beginning, Sweetone41185, TheJoker'sGotMyHeart, torifire126, winterheaven, VampireAngel123, and X-Raye for adding this to their story alerts.**

**Thanks to CokeACola2006, , and red-eye-tree-frog for adding me to their author alerts, and to alittlefaithinme2, BlueNewt113, red-eye-tree-frog, and for adding me to their favorite authors. **

**Finally, last but not least, here's a shout out to .Ice, Vampiric Dragonrider, ThatGirlWithGoldenEyes, Rose of Zakarisz, Rena Cresten, red-eye-tree-frog, PipMerry, Phoenix667, , nightingale mistress, Nayami-Chan, Natasha1689, mystic48138, Mavan, MarjorieMayhem, Mangoberri, Mahtahild, Lele0208, JeantheDarkPhoenix, javamarie, How Cynamin Rolls, Hikari Urania, dragonrose21, dolphingirlrrg, CoCo Darke, BlueNewt113, birdie360, angel19872006, alittlefaithinme2, Alice24601, and Akatsuki Child for deciding that this story was good enough to be called one of their favorites! Well, now that I've probably doubled the length of the chapter, ON WITH THE STORY!**

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**THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS, DARKLY**

**Chapter Four: Q&A**

"Shay, where the hell are we?" Alice demanded for the fifty-fourth time. Okay, actually it was only the sixth time, but, honestly, who's counting? Oh. Apparently me. Hey, I just answered my own rhetorical question!

Shay finished locking up a door and turned around sharply, her blonde hair swinging. "Jeez, Alice, have a cow. I told you guys it was somewhere safe, didn't I?"

"Because that sure tells us everything we need to know," snorted Hatter.

Shay rolled her eyes. "Well, look, you two are just gonna have to trust me."

"How many times are you going to threaten us before you figure out that we don't?" the man retorted, giving her a look.

Shay stuck out her tongue. "Fine. Safe house."

"Where?" Alice asked firmly.

"Can't say." The blonde shrugged.

"Why not?" Hatter frowned. Well, frowned more. Shay tended to have that effect on people.

"So you can't."

"What do you mean?" Alice and Hatter exchanged a look.

"Listen, I don't want to freak you guys out or anything, but Fara doesn't exactly play nice." Shay sighed, and then added, "What do you think is the worst thing you can do with a corkscrew?" Now, the question remains: was she just adding that for dramatic effect, did she actually want to know, or was it a mixture of both? Personally, Shay being who she was, I think it was both.

Alice sighed, realizing that Shay wasn't going to tell them what she wanted to know any time soon. The brunette made her way over to the living room and sat down on one of the couch, followed closely by the troublesome blonde, who took a seat on the floor. Odd, but that was Shay for you. Following the girl's lead, Hatter moved into the living room as well, sitting down on the same couch as his girlfriend, only to find himself subject to a rather threatening death glare from Shay. "What?" he demanded. Shay glanced at Alice, then back to him. Not wanting to deal with either of them being physically relocated by the pushy blonde, Hatter scooted closer to Alice, giving his girlfriend a somewhat apologetic look. He didn't really need to. Both of them were glad for the excuse.

"All right, Shay," Alice began slowly, choosing her words carefully, lest Shay go off on a tangent about bunnies or explosives, or bunnies with explosives. "If you're not going to tell us where we are-,"

"Not one word, I guarantee. I've locked my lips and trashed the key." Neither Neither Hatter nor Alice knew how to respond, so they just stared at the rhyming blonde. Like randomly bursting into song, responding in rhyme was just so wrong. It can be fun, I must admit, but once you start, you just can't quit. A habit that won't break or bend, you just can't make the rhyming END!

Ahem. Anyway…

"Did you…did you just rhyme?" Alice asked slowly.

"I don't know, did I?" Shay challenged in a dramatic tone. Alice raised an eyebrow, then hastily moved on.

"Yea, anyway. If you're not going to tell us where we are, then I want you to answer some of my other questions. Deal?"

"You don't know what they'd put you through, but I guess I do owe this to you. Don't blame me when you're in hell, but what do you want me to-,"

"I swear, if you say 'tell', this Fara of yours is going to be the least of your problems." Hatter warned the blonde, looking deadly serious.

Smiling bemusedly, Shay gave him what he wanted. "Answer," she finished. "What do you want me to answer?"

Having won the battle, if not the war, Hatter sat semi-contentedly back against the sofa and put his arm around Alice. Nobody said a word, but the girl in question was having herself an internal squee, and Shay was silently nodding her approval.

"If you two are finished…" Alice said, smirking slightly.

"Never finished, only temporarily silenced to increase the suspense." Shay cheerily, not to mention loudly, announced.

"How about a bit of that silence now?" Hatter retorted, annoyed.

"You first!"

Looking insulted, Hatter glared at the blonde. "Only when-,"

"Hey!" Alice shouted, smiling slightly and thinking to herself about how cute her boyfriend was when he was annoyed. Having successfully shushed the ruckus, the brunette put her hand beneath Hatter's chin and turned his face toward her. "Behave," she ordered teasingly.

"Yes, ma'am." Hatter grinned, playing along.

Alice kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Good boy."  
Shay cleared her throat. "That's not much of a question, Alice."

"Right." Alice said as Hatter pouted, the moment thoroughly ruined. "First of all, you said we were red, instead of black. Why?"

Shay blinked, "Well, it's not much of a plot point, but if you really want to know." Shrugging, the blonde though for a moment, then said, "Look, Alice, it may not have much to do with anything saving Wonderland, but, well, when you think about it, white represents perfection and safety. All that stuff the stone I was telling you guys about gives off. And that's what we're fighting, false perfection, fake bliss, that kind of thing. Red is all about power; its courage; its passion, and it's love. And it's everything we represent. And, silly or not, thinking of myself and what I'm doing as a color like that one helps. It helps when we're losing, and it helps it hurts, and it helps when I'm thinking about my bro…ken…world. Broken world. Yea." Shay frowned, as though mentally slapping herself for coming up with a crappy cover. She was because, honestly, nobody says 'broken world' unless they're high on melodrama and not planning on getting sober any time soon.

"All right," Alice nodded slowly, exchanging a wow-that-was-a-bad-cover-what-do-you-think-she's-hiding look with Hatter. "Next question. Earlier, you said that…that every person, place and thing. You're saying…" she trailed off, unsure of what she was really trying to ask here. Fortunately, Shay picked up where she'd left off.

"I'm saying that everyone and everything's got a copy. Not that they always are copies, sometimes they're almost nothing alike," Shay explained, pushing herself up onto her knees. "I mean, chances are, they'll display some similarities, like repeat things the other's said or done, whether they know about it or not. Usually, when alternate versions are really different, they're like who the other could have been had something, someone, happened. Or not happened. And there is always, always a copy. she shrugged. The blonde looked as though that was about all she knew, then frowned, and opened her mouth to add something.

"What?" Alice asked quickly.

Shay shook her head. "Nothing." she said. "Well, at least nothing important." Alice was about to ask Shay to tell her anyway, but was interrupted. Or, since she hadn't started talking yet…is there a word for that? Oh, well. Nobody really cares.

"Hang on," Hatter said loudly, having just remembered something particularly obvious. "How come we couldn't get back through the looking glass?"

Alice's eyes widened, and she nodded her agreement. "That's right. How come we could get through from my world to here, but not the other way around?"

Shay thought for a moment before she answered this one. "'Cuz you weren't done."

"What?" both Hatter and Alice asked at the same time.

The blonde looked up. "The looking glass. It knew you had the ring," she nodded to Hatter, "So it decided that it's best bet for Wonderland was to keep you here. And you," she refocused her gaze on Alice, "are…well, you're Alice of Legend. Somethin' was bound to happen with you around."

"Again?" Alice groaned, rolling her eyes. "I already did the 'of legend' thing!"

Shay shrugged. "Legends aren't born, they're made."

Alice blinked, confused. "What does that have to do with it?" she asked.

"Oh, absolutely nothing. It's just the only cliché I know about legends, and it seemed the appropriate time."

"All right, let me get this straight." Hatter said slowly. "We're stuck in your Wonderland by a mirror that can think because it wants us to save the day. And it's not going to let us leave until we do?"

"Dead on." Shay confirmed.

Alice dropped her head onto Hatter's chest tiredly, and her boyfriend looked a bit surprised, although pleasantly so. "I don't like that mirror." she declared quietly after a moment.

"And it doesn't like you back." Shay stuck out her tongue, crossing her arms.

"Oh, here's a question." Hatter said, gently taking his girlfriend's hand. "You said we're red and the Queen is white, right? Well, why the hell are we playing chess?"

Shay snickered, flicking blonde hair out of her eyes. "Well, it helps me think. Strategize. Figure out what the other side is planning." She smiled sheepishly. "And it's fun as hell."

Alice sat back up, much to Hatter's badly hidden disappointment. "How does it help you strategize?" she asked, curious.

"Well," Shay began slowly, thinking. "All right, take Fara. She's the queen. And by that, I don't just mean of Wonderland, I mean she's the White Queen."

"I thought she was in charge of all of Wonderland." Hatter pointed out.

"She is, and it makes her the most powerful piece in the game. If you're wondering about the White King, then you're thinking of the Heart of Wonderland itself. The big rock. The one the Light is just a part of. It's the thing stuck on an amplifier. And before you call me crazy, and no, the rock doesn't think, listen. The Heart of Wonderland is the most important piece, because without it, Fara's who plan goes _kablooey_." She simulated the explosion, pressing her first together, then bouncing the fingers open and off of each other. "And everything we're trying to do here revolves around getting it."

Alice nodded, understanding. "So if the **Heart** of Wonderland is the White King, then wouldn't that make the **Light** of Wonderland the Red King?"

Shay looked pleased. "You would think," she explained, "But it really isn't. The Heart is the entire problem in Wonderland. The Light, it can't do anything on its own. It's got no power except getting you here. It's just another pawn. But you," she pointed at Alice. "You're a rook. Fast, dangerous, and able to dominate the game when played just right. Alice of Legend."

Although Alice was definitely not a fan of being 'played', she ignored it and asked, "Then what about you?"

"Easy. Red Queen," the blonde said assertively.

"Well aren't you full of yourself…" Hatter rolled his eyes.

Shay pretended to think about it for a moment, than confidently announced, "Nope. Wanna hear why?"

Shay explained, ticking off her reasons on her fingers. "Resistance. Hanging with you two. Know who's got the Light of Wonderland. Unaffected by the Heart. And, most importantly, anything I tell you two, you haven't got much of a choice but to believe, because you haven't got any other information on the subject." She grinned. "Hell, for all you know, Fara might be a total goody-two-shoes queen and I might be the bad guy here."

Alice and Hatter stared. The girl had a point. "And you wonder why we don't trust you?" Hatter sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

Shay shrugged. "Because you're overly suspicious and really don't think?" she asked. "I mean, if I was going to kill you guys, or steal the ring, don't you think I'd have done it by now?" Immediately, Hatter made sure that she hadn't stolen the ring by now. Shay rolled her eyes. She hadn't.

The blonde stood up and stretched. "All right. We're all calmed down, or at least I am, so let's go save a kingdom!" She marched off towards the door, leaving Hatter and Alice to wonder what the hell was wrong with her. Again. Somebody really should keep count. Here, let me think…well, it's over ten, that's for sure.

Standing up, the couple headed after Shay. "Hang on," Hatter demanded. "What about me?"

Shay blinked. "What **about** you?"

"Rook, Queen," Hatter explained, pointing to the two of them in turn. "What does that make me?"

"Oh." Shay said calmly, as though the answer was obvious. She pulled open the door to the safe house. "King."

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**Ah, how dramatic. For the record, the only person who's status as a Red/White chess piece that has anything to do with Lewis Carroll's ****_Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There_, is Shay, our resident Red Queen. The rest of them are just good, old-fashioned chess references, which I happen to love. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, there's a pretty little button down below this note, and you can tell me anything you want. For example, you could tell me if you prefer cats or dogs, although that has nothing to do with this chapter, now does it? **

**No ducks were harmed in the making of this chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wowzers. Talk about a long time between updates, huh? Sorry 'bout that, and the fact that this one's shorter than I usually do, I think. Well, anyway, today my sister and I went to see Alice In Wonderland, as in the new movie, as in Tim Burton, as in combining the Queen of Hearts and Red Queen into one person, which was pretty much the only thing I didn't like about the movie. Everything else was great. 'Specially the Jabberwock. Concentrated awesome, says I. Okay, so here's this chapter, and I'm gonna start on the next one ASAP so we don't have to wait so long this time. Enjoy!

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**THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS, DARKLY**

**Chapter Five: Shiny Fight Scene**

"Wait, **I'm **the king?" Hatter repeated, pointing to himself in surprise. He had to point because, you know, there were just so many other people there named Hatter that Shay could've been referring to any one of them…

Shay nodded slowly, looking at him like he was incredibly stupid for not having figured that out by now. "Yea," she said. "Think about it. Like I said, the Light of Wonderland is just a ring. It can't do anything on it's own. But you have it. You're the one who can use it, or break it, or hide it. That makes you the most powerful piece in the game," after a moment, she added, "Oh, and if you do break it, not only will the two of you be stuck here forever and ever, but also, I'll kill you. Probably slowly," For a split second, Shay narrowed her eyes angrily, then, ever the mood swinger, was smiling the next moment. "Besides. You're the only guy here. Makes it less awkward. And, anyway, do you have a problem with being king?"

"Nope." Hatter shook his head immediately, grinning. Apparently, Alice has a thing for royalty. First Jack, now Hatter…

"Has either of you ever played chess?" Shay asked, a very abrupt subject change that seemed to snap Hatter out of whatever little world he was in inside his head. I bet he was happy dancing. Aw, well now I wish we could have seen it. Bugger. I guess we don't get to see what goes on beneath that hat of his. "Aw, that's not important. What's important is castling." Blank stares. "Castling. Cas…uh…ling." She explained slowly and deliberately.

"If you're done with your phonics exercises, why don't you tell us what _cas…uh…ling_ is?" Hatter rolled his eyes, pronouncing the vocabulary word of the day even slower than Shay had.

Shay stared at him for a while, as though she was deciding how to respond. Hatter and Alice waited impatiently. Finally, the blonde gave a teasing smile and coyly announced, "I can say it slower."

"Oh, for the love of…" Hatter groaned, taking a deep breath. "Alice, you talk to her. I don't speak…crazy person."

"Yea, well I don't speak…uh…" Shay narrowed her eyes, trying to think of what to categorize Hatter as. Eventually, she gave up on it and hit him.

"What the...oh, that is **it**!"

Alice rolled her eyes, already used to it. "Hang on, you two. Kill each other later. Shay, what's castling?"

"Oh **yea**!" Shay's eyes widened and she nodded. "Okay, well, caaaaaaaaa.,-"

"-stling." Alice finished, annoyed. "We get it, you can say it slower, you win."

"HA!" Shay stuck out her tongue at Hatter triumphantly. His eye twitched slightly. Whether Shay picked up on the quickly darkening mood or not, she moved on immediately as though nothing had ever happened. "All right. Castling is when you move the king and the rook from the same side at the same time. You move the king two squares towards a rook, then you move the rook onto the square that you moved the king over." You remember those blank stares from earlier? Well, just kind of imagine them again, because that's pretty much the response Hatter and Alice gave. Shay sighed. "Basically, it gets the king to a safer position **and**- don't you just love 'ands'?- moves the rook into a preferable place on the board. In other words, it's like a double whammy, like a defensive and offensive in one. Sorta."

"Okay…" Hatter nodded slowly. "What does that have to do with-,"

"Absolutely nothing!" Shay announced cheerily. "Just keep it," she tapped her forehead. "up here." Turning on her heel, the blonde bounced out of the doorway of the safe house.

"Couple of screws loose upstairs…" Hatter mumbled under his breath.

Alice nodded. "Oh, yea."

"Oh, we have a _problem_!" Shay declared loudly in a worried, albeit singsong, tone from outside. Actually, I wouldn't say 'singsong' so much as outright singing. It was like bursting into song and having her own musical right then and there, except…well, most musicals are longer than five words. I mean, seriously, you can't even do a line of a song in five words. Check it. I (one) think (two) I'll (three) try (four) defying (five) gravity (six). Six words, one line. See what I mean? Hey, wait a second! There's a **plot** to this story, and it has nothing to do with the Wicked Witch of the West's backstory! So back to the chapter then…

Alice and Hatter ran outside, although they were only really a few steps away, meaning they didn't have time to get up much speed before they came skidding to a halt beside Shay, their resident crazy person, at least according to the Mad Hatter, which was saying something. Then again…'I can say it slower,' does require some degree of lunacy. Right, now where were we?

Alice and Hatter ran outside, although they were only really-

Wait, I said that already.

Ahem.

"Great. More trekkies…trekkers…Star Trek fan…people. Ugh. Never mind." Alice groaned, ignoring the thoroughly baffled looks she was getting from just about everybody there.

Shay cocked her head slowly to the left. "What the heckie is a trekkie?" she asked, then made a face. "Phooey. Rhyming is only fun when you mean to do it."

"Don't…don't ask." Alice shook her head, as the blonde shrugged and pulled a strangely well-hidden katana from somewhere beneath her duster. "Shay, who are these people?"

"The _bad_ guys," Shay hissed, as though that cleared up everything. Then again, that being said, one would generally make the inference that they were working for the queen. That is, unless one was stupid. Er…everyone had figured that out, right? If you hadn't, don't worry, you're not stupid, I didn't mean **you**! I meant…other people. Uh… Hey, look at the shiny fight scene! Let's watch that!

"Pfft. I don't even need this thing," Shay mumbled, surveying the odds as she slid the thoroughly epic weapon back into her duster and dropped into a fighting stance, making her narrator/author wonder why she'd even bothered to pull it out in the first place. Ah, yes. Dramatic effect. I nearly forgot.

"Shay, it's fifteen against three." Hatter pointed out, glancing around.

She raised her eyebrow. "You suck **that** bad?"

And before anyone thinks they're clever and points out that Alice pretty much took on, like, twenty guys by herself earlier, that was different. That was a little something called unstoppable rage. And a note to all bad guys out there: never endanger the hero's friends, family, love interest, or other general nakama. "Nakama" being a Japanese word for company, fellow, colleague, associate, comrade, mate, group, circle of friends, or partner. Quoth TV Tropes. Anyway, you can't _do_ that, because that hero will get a big burst of energy or strength or confidence or whatever, and **kick** **your** **ass**. Like what Dark Willow did to Warren after he killed Tara, or like what River Tam did to the Reavers after Simon got shot. Or, for those of you who don't know who Joss Whedon is or what the heck I'm babbling about, try Optimus Prime in Revenge of the Fallen after Megatron tried to justify his means for wanting to kill Sam. Or the hulk. There's an obvious example. You won't like him when he's angry and all that. And if you don't know what any of those examples means…then I pity you, for you have lived a sad, sheltered life. Possibly under a rock. Now wasn't there a fight scene we were supposed to be watching?

Dropping into a fighting stance for only half a second at the most, Shay kicked things off, no pun intended, with a roundhouse, while Alice favored a less fancy but more effective kick. And Hatter? Well, he stuck with his sledgehammer. The fight, as it turned out, began more or less as a lovely, violent, evenly-matched fray for a while, our heroes being outnumbered ten to one and everything. Shay had been right, apparently, about not needing her sword, and could very much hold her own on her own, Hatter and his epic fist handled themselves quite nicely, and Alice was, as always, a flurry of karate awesome. But now, tell me, does that make for a very interesting fight scene? I should think not. So let's kick things up a notch, shall we?

"Oh, **hell** no!" Shay groaned, rolling her eyes in frustration as she caught sight of the approaching backup. Backup is good. Just not when it's for your enemies.

"You think we should run?" Alice asked softly, finding herself suddenly back to back with the blonde. As little as she liked the idea, forty against three was not exactly the definition of favorable odds. What _is_ the definition of favorable odds, you may ask? You probably didn't, actually, but I got a new dictionary and I'm just dying to try it out. Listen.

Favorable odds. Favorable meaning "advantageous or helpful", odds meaning "chances of something happening". In other words…oh, hey look. Here it is, right there! "Favorable odds. Definition: good chances of something happening. Antonym: The good guy's chances of winning this fight. Synonym: Time to start gloating."

…Damn it. Anyone have a dictionary I can borrow?

"It's just thirty to three, not that bad." Shay said reassuringly, although who she was trying to reassure, herself or Alice, remained to be seen. "Well, I've got a sword and Hatter's got a gun and you've got a…"

"Black belt?" Hatter suggested helpfully.

"Perfect!" Shay beamed. "Let's kick some-,"

"Hang on." Alice interrupted loudly, still fending off enemy blows, wondering if there was any particular reason the bad guys didn't seem to be armed. "I'm all for getting out of this alive, but does it half to involve killing?"

Shay blinked and frowned. "That depends on how good a shot your boyfriend is, 'cuz I'm not so great at missing."

"Shay-,"

"All right, all right," the blonde sighed. "No lethal weapons allowed. So what, I just hit people or something?"

"Isn't that what you've been doing?" Hatter raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and it's getting boring." Shay pouted, making a fist, which she promptly slammed into the nearest mook's stomach, because yes, there was still fighting going on, because talking is not always a free action. "Ten for each of us," she added with a shrug. "Can't take too long, at least." Hatter and Alice exchanged a quick look, unsure if the blonde was showcasing overconfidence or just plain insanity. It was probably the second one.

Now, the thing about a fight scene is that they're very visual. In other words, they're so much more fun to watch then they are to read about. Frankly, however, I can't show you this, so I've got no choice but to write about it. Just bear with me, okay?

Alice easily dodged a punch, delivering one of her own at the exact same time as her boyfriend; his was decidedly more powerful, however, considering that The Sledgehammer™ can crack walls with no damage to the user whatsoever. Quite a feat, seeing as you can break your hand punching a person, much less **breaking** a **wall**. But I'm just a fangirl, so where were we? Ah yes; people beating each other up.

"This is hardly an appropriate position." Shay grinned mischievously at the random mook who she was sitting on top of, having tackled him. Now, nobody was really sure why she had tackled him, of all things, or why she hadn't gotten up yet, but neither of those were very important at this time because said tackled mook had decided that at least one of the trekkies ought to get a line into the story at some point in time, and he actually said something.

"Your brother says hi."

Wow. Four words. There's no way that line could possibly have any effect.

...Okay. I'll admit it. I lied.

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**Yeah, did that come off as a more or less Shay-centric chappie to anyone else? Phooey. Not my intention. I'll work on it and try and put in more Hatter, more Alice, and more...Halice next time around. Well, please review! Noodles!**

**...oh. right. 'Noodles' is the shortened version of 'Toodles. And noodles. And oodles of poodles.' Why, yes, that _is_ how I say goodbye. What can I say? I'm mad as a box of frogs.**

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	6. Chapter 6

**Yep. This is me...updating quickly so you don't have to wait long. Ahem. Sorry. I failed. Anyway, I'm just glad I got this done before exam week. Of course, it's 5:00 in the morning here, but still...before exams. Right, enjoy this decidedly dark turn!

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THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS, DARKLY

**Chapter Six: Orlando Bloom and Unveiled Threats**

"See you in Hell, asshole," Shay growled, watching the dead body of the only 'Trekkie' who had ever bothered to get a line in fall to the ground with an angry scowl.

"We should go." Alice told Hatter softly.

"She got blood on my coat," was her boyfriend's quiet response, in a tone that fell somewhere between shock and horror.

Now, one dead evil doer is not much to get worked up over. Not to sound insensitive, but both Hatter and Alice had seen their share of dead bodies and killing at the Happy Hearts Casino. Of course, that didn't quite compare to seeing someone who you'd been considering something along the lines of a friend take out about forty people, albeit bad ones, in five minutes. Possibly less.

Shay distractedly studied the blood on her katana for a moment, and then slid it back into her coat without bothering to wipe it clean. Half walking, half skipping towards her two companions, both of whom took a cautious step back as Hatter moved protectively in front of Alice.

After staring rather pointlessly up at the sky, Shay announced loudly and with very little emotion, "The Rook's bleeding." Immediately, Hatter turned around to make sure that Alice was okay, considering that she was the designated "Rook", or at least according to Shay. And speaking of Shay, she shot Hatter a pitying look and explained, "The White Rook, I mean. There's a whole in his chest, and I think its ripping through mine."

After a moment, Hatter reached the only logical conclusion. "You're insane." Because, honestly, can you think of any other sane thing to respond with?

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Okay, Alice, that one works too.

"Huh?" Shay asked, looking over her shoulder casually. "Nothin' bu' everythin', o' cou'se." she slurred, suddenly sounding tired. In fact, the next thing out of her mouth was, "I need t' catch a qui' nap, if n'body minds." Wow, I must be psychic! That…or the author.

The blonde wandered back towards the house, pausing next to the rather stunned couple. She blinked at Hatter's newly stained jacket and then told him, "That's not gonna come off. Sorry," before disappearing into the safe house (which was not so safe, apparently), with a sigh.

"All right, that's enough mood swinging for the day." Hatter announced after a terribly awkward minute or so of silence. "Let's get out of here."

"No." Alice shook her head.

"Come again?"

"No." Alice repeated, giving her boyfriend a firm look. "She's the only one of us who knows what's going on. And besides, something wasn't quite right about-."

"Alice, something's not quite right about her in general. In fact, she's completely off her rocker! And there is absolutely nothing you can say that is going to make me stay here and put up with her insults, psychotic mood swings, and… occasional rhyming."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere."

"…Except that." Hatter frowned. "Look Alice, wandering around this world without a guide isn't exactly ideal, but there's no guaranteeing that she won't flip out like that on us, too. She's completely unstable, and she might hurt you. And if that happened, I-,"

"You know, she could just as easily hurt you." Alice pointed out. "I can take care of myself, Hatter, and you're not exactly invulnerable. You're in just as much danger as I am."

Hatter made a face. "Didn't think of that," he mumbled, blushing slightly.

"That's either endearingly sweet or mind-numbingly stupid," Alice told him, kissing him on the cheek before heading inside, her mind made up on staying, at least for the time being.

"Which is it?" Hatter asked, following her into the house. If he couldn't convince her to leave, he'd just have to stay and make sure that nothing happened to her.

"I'll have to think about it," Alice shot back with a grin.

As it turned out, Shay slept for quite a long time. In fact, she slept for two days, both of which consisted of Alice and Hatter deciding to leave if Shay didn't wake up soon, forgetting that decision due to special circumstances, and promising that if she wasn't awake by tomorrow, they would either head off on their own or wake the blonde in question. And, of course, those 'special circumstances' included, but were not limited to, some romantic discussions, multiple awkward silences, a number of stealings of a certain hat and the resulting chases, a plethora of shushing, several instances of random, music-less dancing, the occasional Alice-falling-asleep-on-Hatter's-chest incidents, just as many Hatter-not-minding-in-the-slightest incidents, more than one mentioning of Orlando Bloom, innumerable cups of tea, and one very long rant about exactly why tea was _so_ much better than that inferior "blah" known as coffee. In fact, the two days were not in the slightest bit thought of as wasted time, except once by Alice, which resulted in one of those 'shushings' I mentioned earlier. They were two days of strangely pleasant, strangely uninterrupted time, and both Hatter and Alice were a bit sad to see Shay wake up.

Okay, that was a lie. Alice was a bit sad, Hatter was downright annoyed.

"How long was I out?" the blonde asked.

"About two days," Alice told her as Hatter pouted. "We've been waiting around for you to wake up, but we didn't exactly think it would take this long."

"Crap," Shay groaned. "Two days? Are you freakin' kidding me? Not that I didn't need the sleep, but for God's sake…" she took a deep breath, then asked, "You guys are all right? Nobody working for Fara showed up, right?"

"No, we're perfectly fine. In fact, we had a lovely time. Thank you _so much_ for waking up." Hatter grumbled, giving her a look. I don't think he likes her very much.

"Rawr."

No, you read that right. Shay's response was 'Rawr'. Incidentally, that was Shay-speak for either "Bite me, asshole", or "Ha, ha, I'm about to kick your ass and there's nothing you can do about it." She has also once used it to mean, "Hey, look, a llama," but that hasn't even made sense in context, so we're not going to go very deep into that one. Actually, we're just going to ignore that completely. In fact, forget I ever brought it up. Are you forgetting? Good. Now, if you're done, we can continue the story, which does not include llamas.

"Okay, look, here's the plan. I'll contact my friend Halloway, she knows how to work the amp the Heart of Wonderland's on. We'll meet up with her and shut that down. Of course, we'll have to-,"

"Hang on a second." Alice interjected loudly. "Shay, you're just gonna act like nothing happened?"

Shay blinked. "That depends."

"On…?" Alice prompted expectantly.

"What happened?"

Cue the awkward silence.

"What do you mean, what happened?" Hatter demanded. He would be the one to break the silence, wouldn't he? "Two days ago. Outside the house. Right outside. When we were fighting...or you were fighting…you know what? Let's just call it 'killing' and be done with it!"

Shay's eyes widened slightly. "What the hell are you…oh, God, what happened?"

Before Hatter said anything else, Alice asked, "You don't remember?"

Shay shrugged and shook her head. "Well, when I get really stressed I sort of zone out and…you know, do stuff. But I never remember it and I sorta have to sleep it off. Which, I guess, is the good part, because I don't sleep much otherwise. I need to, but I don't."

"That's great. That's absolutely fantastic. So you just black out and kill people? Is that it?" Hatter was in no mood to beat around the bush.

"How much…how much killing are we talking here?" Shay asked slowly, afraid of the answer. "There was, what, forty people out there, I couldn't have-,"

"Unarmed. Forty unarmed people, Shay. And now every one of them is dead because you had a tantrum."

Shay stared at Hatter for a moment. "Oh God," she mumbled. Closing her eyes, she said quietly, and with a new vulnerability, "I'm not…I didn't…that's not me. That's not what I do. I don't just kill people. Not forty, and not unarmed. I'm just…not stable, I'm…" she sat down on the tile floor and stopped talking.

Alice gave Hatter a look. "Easy," she whispered to her boyfriend, not wanting to make things worse for Shay than they already were.

Nodding slightly, Hatter sat down on the floor next to the blonde. "Can you control it?" he asked in a much calmer tone. Shay gave him a quizzical look. "The black outs. The killing. The crazy. Can you control it somehow? Keep calm or wait for it to pass or something?" Shay shook her head no. "Then we've gotta go."

"What?" Shay asked, confused. "You're not…not serious, right? You're not gonna leave. I mean, you don't know this world, you don't know the ring or…or…you're not gonna leave? Alice, you're-"

"He's right, Shay. I didn't want to have to go without a guide, but if you can't control this, then it's not safe for either of us to be around you. I'm sorry."Alice gave the blonde a sympathetic look as Hatter got to his feet.

Shay stood up as well and said, without any of that quick-lived vulnerability, "You don't trust me. Fine. I am genuinely hurt. In case you haven't noticed, two days ago, I apparently saved your lives! You can't always make it out of a fight without killing someone, you know!" In fact, the hell with vulnerability, she sounded downright dangerous.

"Easy, Shay." Hatter attempted to calm her down. "It's not that we don't trust you, it's that…no, that's it. Um...don't tell me you didn't see this coming, Shay. You've seen what I'll do to protect her; do you really think this would be any different?"

"All right. Fine. Leave. Whatever. I don't care. I **don't** care."

Hatter resisted the urge to reply, "Bullshit," and turned toward the door. "Sorry, Shay, but-,"

"Oh, you're gonna be."

Both Alice and Hatter turned around. "What's the supposed to mean?" Alice asked warily, exchanging a worried glance with her boyfriend.

Shay, however, had stormed off in the other direction in a manner akin to a four-year-old upset at Mommy or Daddy for giving them a time-out or refusing to buy them the new Random Stupid Toy™ that they just _needed_ so badly. After a shared silent decision that not knowing what she had meant was better than following her and risking another "episode", they left. And that was it. They left. Her "Oh, you're gonna be," was nothing more than an empty threat from an unhappy girl, they found it easy enough to navigate his version of Wonderland without her as their guide, and soon found someone else ready and willing to tell them all of their extensive knowledge about the Heart and Light of Wonderland, as well as to accompany them on their quest and provide a safe and helpful addition to the team. And they never saw Shay again.

Bullshit.

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**So, yeah. WISH ME LUCK ON THE SOCIAL STUDIES EXAM OF DEATH!**

**...oh, and review, too. That'd be lovely.**


	7. Chapter 7

**1300. That's about how many words this stupid, short, long overdue chapter has. And I'm very sorry. But on the plus side, I've worked out a new schedule where I have one chapter every two weeks, which will leave me plenty of time for this and my othr projects. In other words, future updates should be faster, not to mention that they'll obviously be longer as well. And according to that schedule, this chapter was due YESTERDAY, which, coincidently, was also my birthday. GUESS WHO'S FIFTEEN NOW!**

**...it's me.**

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**THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS, DARKLY**

**Chapter Seven: The Calm Before the Storm**

Alice was thinking.

It wasn't like it was a rare thing or anything; in fact, Alice though a lot. Sometimes she over-thought things, and sometimes she didn't take her own advice, but the fact remains that she thought a lot. "I feel sort of bad for her," she said aloud. "Shay, I mean. It wasn't really her fault, I guess."

"Yep."

"Not that I think we should go back, but this is her world. If anyone should be saving it, its someone who lives here."

"Yep."

And…well, it would be sort of nice to have a clue where we're going, considering we've been completely lost since we left her safe house. In fact… is it just me or are we going in circles?"

"Yep."

"Hatter, are you even listening?"

"Yep."

That was a lie. Hatter was far to focused on kicking a rock back and forth to be doing anything else. Alice rolled her eyes.

"So the way I see it, we should use those jet packs over there to get to Disneyland."

"Yep."

"And then Peter Pan can help us fly off to Hogwarts, since we've missed the train for this year."

"Yep."

"Then, once Harry gives us the magical hippopotamus, we'll go back to Disneyworld."

"Yep."

Alice frowned at her boyfriend. "Then Jack and I can have lots of sex and we'll get married and then have even more sex. And we'll all live happily ever after."

"Yep. Happily ever- WHAT?" That got a reaction. The rock Alice had been competing with for attention skittered off into the nearby bushes, forgotten.

"Oh, listening now, are we?" Alice asked with a smug grin.

Hatter, on the other hand, looked less than pleased. "Not funny." he mumbled, pouting.

"Oh, please. Me doing…any of that stuff with Jack is as even more unlikely than me taking you to Disneyworld."

"What, the place with the mouse?"

"Yep." Alice said, which was a tad ironic, as she started to walk again.

"I don't trust that thing," he told her absentmindedly, looking around. Don't worry, Hatter. You are not alone. That mouse is just too nice…

"I rest my case," Alice responded, not noticing as Hatter's eyes lit up excitedly as they settled on something. You'd think it'd be the villains you'd have a problem with…"

"What villains?" Hatter demanded, whirling back around to face her, eyes wide.

Alice stifled a laugh and ignored him. "Okay, I'm pretty sure we've been going in circles, so let's try and think what looks familiar. Anything?" she asked Hatter. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She didn't really ask him because he was no where to be seen. Worried, Alice looked around quickly and called out, "Hatter?"

Of course, she didn't need to worry, because a few moments later, he reappeared, grinning triumphantly and holding up the rock. "Found it!"

"Hatter…" Alice groaned, rolling her eyes, having long since grown sick of that rock.

"Come on, Alice, I'm bored. All work and no play makes Jack…a dull…" he frowned. "Right. I'll just add that to the list of things I'm never saying again."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "You have a list?"

"I do now," he looked around. "Hey, is it just me, or are we going in circles?" Alice's eye twitched, and since that is never a good sign, he quickly cleared his throat and lamely mumbled, "Er…that was a joke." Hatter sighed and, studying his rock, mumbled, "I could do with a cup of tea about now."

Ha. I have one. And it's good. And it's hot. And it's Earl Gray. Be jealous, you adorable bundle of madness that I still associate with dinosaurs. Be very jealous.

Ahem. Anyway…

Echoing her boyfriend's sigh, Alice looked around at the pleasantly lush, green landscape, then up at the darkening sky, and announced, "It's probably getting late, and we could probably both do with some rest."

"Speak for yourself," Hatter snorted.

"All right then, you can take the first watch."

Hatter made a face, but didn't argue. "And where do you intend to sleep?" he asked, looking around.

"I guess we'll just have to make do with what we have," Alice sighed and, after a moment, sad down beneath a tree. "And this is as good a spot as any."

"'Good' is not the word I would use," grumbled her boyfriend, sitting down next to her. "I could really do with a cup of tea right now." I repeat. Ha. "Sort of missing that safe house's kitchen," he added after a moment.

"The hell with that. I miss my kitchen."

"So do I," Hatter agreed, wistfully thinking of all of the tea stored at Alice's home, all of which he had carefully selected himself.

Alice snuggled up against her boyfriend and lay her head down on his chest. Staring up at the stars, she said, "I can't believe we're doing this again. This whole 'saving the world' thing. I thought we were done with that last year after we saved your Wonderland, and now here we are again, doing it all over." She groaned softly. "I'm so tired of this."

Hatter pulled her in closer. "We'll get through this, Alice. Together." For quite some time, neither of them talked. That was probably because neither of them needed to. Some things can't be put into words.

However, Alice a thought. An important thought with relevance to the plot of her story. So she asked, "Hey, Hatter? Whatever happened to the ring?"

Oh, yeah. That thing.

"Oh." Hatter said, with basically the same reaction as I had. He fished around in his pocked for a moment before pulling it out. "Got it right here."

"I think…" Alice began, staring at the ring. "I think we should hide it."

"Hide it?" Hatter asked, confused. "Why would we want to do that?"

"I don't know, but I just have this feeling…"

"What kind of feeling?" Hatter asked, looking around for a possible hiding spot. Pity they were out in the middle of nowhere. Refrigerators make such wonderful hiding places.

"A bad feeling," Alice answered, which wasn't much help. Hatter, agreeing with the narrator, raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue. The martial arts instructor sighed, which she seemed to have been doing a lot of lately. "I don't know how to explain it, I just can't help but feel like something's going to go wrong soon and I don't want this Queen Fara or whatever her name was to get this thing."

"All right. Then where do we hide this thing?" Hatter stood up, still searching for a good place to keep the ring safe. Alice followed his lead.

"Hey, Hatter?" The man in question looked up. "What do we do about Shay?"

"What about her?"

Alice shrugged awkwardly, "I mean, what if we run into her again? She's trying to do the right thing, Hatter. I know she is. She's just…"

"A few tea leaves short of a full pot?" the Wonderlander (Wonderlandian?) suggested helpfully. Alice couldn't help but agree. "I guess we'll just have to jump off that bridge when we come to it." Hatter smiled.

It was one of those nights that's just so unbelievably peaceful and beautiful that you'd swear it was ripped out of a cliché romance flick. One of those nights where you forget all of your troubles and get wrapped up in the beauty of the world around you because, as cheesy as it sounds, nothing can go wrong. Nothing can hurt you. Everything is perfect in every way, and you'll never forget it for as long as you live. It was a wonderful, blissful night.

And now, dear readers, I'd like to introduce you to a principal called Equivalent Exchange…

_Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost._

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Look at this chapter! look how hideosly short it is! It's a monster! A MONSTER! In fact... I released a horror, I released a fright! Lurking in the darkness, waiting in the night!

...ahem. Little bit of "Young Frankenstein" for you there. Great musical, by the way. Oh, and Equivalent Exchange is a Fullmetal Alchemist thing, for those not in the know. Wonderful manga. Wonderful anime, too. One of my favorites but ANYWAY, my geekiness aside, thanks for sticking with me through all of this taking-forever-to-update madness, and you guys are all epic for doing so. Seriously, guys, thanks. Welll, that's all for today's (UNGODLY SHORT) chapter. I'll see you guys *checks schedule* January 30!

Dinosaur and review!

...

**Don't worry. I don't get it either.**


	8. Chapter 8

**There are no excuses.**

**That being said, I'm gonna give some anyway. Just to let you know what happened. First there was tech week which, for those of you not into theater, is right before a show and it is HELL. Then I got sick and missed the worst possible seven days of school. I then spent the rest of the year trying to catch up. That's actually completely literal. The whole time from February to May. So then, summer break, plenty of time to write, right? No. Writer's block. All summer. It was horrible. HORRIBLE. **

**Also, I'm going to try and get my writing of this story back to where we're not dealing with one or two updates a year. School starts up again in about three days, and it's a whole new school, so things might me kinda awkward. I'm doing my sophomore through senior years at Fontainebleau High instead of my old school because the old school...sucked. But, anyway, I'm gonna try and get back on track. Don't expect updates every day or even every week, but I'll definitely update at least once a month. If I don't, feel free to PM me and yell. Normally, once a month updates would seem pretty bad to me, but I've been having an awfully messed up time, so you know, baby steps.**

**All that said, sorry for taking so long to update, I'll try to write faster (and longer) in the future, and BEHOLD! THE ELUSIVE CHAPTER EIGHT!**

**Enjoy, my dear, dear friends.**

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**THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS, DARKLY**

**Chapter Eight: Everything's Fine**

It was dark when Shay opened her eyes.

Her eyes adjusted to the light as time passed, and between you and me, she certainly sat there long enough to give them a chance. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, and hours turned to "dear God, my legs have gone numb." And still, she didn't move. If you'd seen it, you would've bet your life on the fact that she was asleep; her head was lolled over—which was pretty neat, because "lolled" is just one of the best words ever—and the rest of her body lay slumped against the back of the chair, unmoving.

However, had you bet your life that she was asleep, you would have been wrong. Dead wrong, if you'll pardon the pun. I recommend that you don't. It was pretty awful, wasn't it?

But puns or no puns, Shay was awake. Wide awake, to be more precise. As in, literally wide, because her eyes were the size of dinner plates. Her breath was quiet and rough, as though even just inhaling was difficult.

"Okay," the blonde girl mumbled quietly, reminding herself and the world that she really was awake. "I've got a plan. Just stick to the plan and everything will work out just fine."

_The Rook's bleeding. There's a hole in his chest and it's ripping through yours, _said Inner Shay. Inner Shay said things like that a lot.

"Where's Alice?" Shay asked herself quietly. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she answered herself.

_Exactly where she needs to be._

"And where's Hatter?"

_Right where we want him._

"And Halloway, where's Halloway?"

_In her place, waiting._

Yes, that was right. Everything was going to be just fine. Telling this to herself once more, Shay took in a deep breath and sighed, pulling her head back upright to where it belonged. She straightened up her body in the chair, and then slowly got to her feet.

Then she fell over. Hours had turned to "dear God, my legs have gone numb" quite some time ago, remember?

She grabbed the back of the chair for support. This didn't help much, because all she managed to accomplish was pulling the chair down with her. It fell to the floor backwards and clattered to the floor with a loud, metallic clang.

Shaking her head, the blonde stood back up gradually, taking her time. She shivered. The room was cold. Too cold, Shay decided as she looked around. The walls all seemed to be made of stone, and the door looked heavy and secure. There would be no breaking that thing down; if someone had wanted out of this room, then the door would need to be unlocked. This was quite a shame, really, because kicking doors down is one of the best ways to make an entrance.

"Ugly as always," Shay allowed herself a small smile. She was darn right, too.

_The Rook's bleeding_, Inner Shay added helpfully.

"Shut up."

Shay pressed her back against the wall nearest to the door and slid down to the ground. Everything was going to be fine. Everything was in safe, which was the key to everything. Hatter didn't have the Light of Wonderland now, she was sure of it. He had probably hidden it somewhere after he andAlicehad left the safe house. She didn't know where it was, and that was a problem. Shay needed to know that for the pan to work. She'd have to find Hatter, she decided. She needed to find that out before someone else did. That would have been bad.

_The Rook's bleeding._

"Don't care. Shut up." Shay growled, glad that she was alone. Well, not quite. Fara was watching her; that went without saying. Fara had eyes on everything in her castle, especially her old, cliché dungeon. That was all right, though. Shay could deal with that.

Getting to her feet, the blonde began to pace. Her legs were steady now, so the odds of another epic fail were low. Too bad, because it had been funny. Well, not to her, I'm sure, but still …

_It's getting bigger._

"What?" Shay demanded of herself, which would have looked pretty strange to the average passerby. Of course, there weren't any average passersby in the dungeon, but the face remains that it was an interesting sight to behold.

_The hole. It's getting bigger._

"The hole…are you still on that?"

_The Rook's bleeding._

"So I've heard."

_The Rook's bleeding. There's a hole in his chest and it's ripping through yours._

"Broken record, sweetie."

_Ripping. Tearing. Hurting. Bigger. Bleeding all over._

Unshaken, Shay rolled her eyes and quipped, "Gee. That sucks."

_Blood all over your shirt._

That seemed to get Shay's attention. "What? Blood where? Damn it, I like this shirt!" She scowled at herself, which was not easy. Technically, she made a face and assumed that Inner Shay would know who it was meant for.

Inner Shay ignored the expression and added, _It's not my blood though._

"Oh, enough of you." Shay decided, trying to tune out the voice in her head and return her thoughts to the plan. Now, if she could just—

_The Rook's bleeding. _

"Shut up."

_Bleeding._

"Shut up, shut up."

_Bleeding all over. He's going to die. _

Shay ignored the mental voice.

_You killed him._

Shay said nothing. Again. This time, however, the circumstances were different, as became evident when her eyes widened and her mouth fell open slightly. And then, in a small voice, "What?"

_Murderer._

"No. No, no, no, no."

_Shot him. Killed him. Blood all over. Murderer._

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

_Murderer._

Then Shay started crying, and the author respectfully declined to make jokes about it. Pulling her knees up to her chest, Shay sat in the corner and tried to calm the storm in her mind. It wouldn't work. She already knew that.

_You killed him. He was your brother and you killed him._

"I would never…I would never…"

_Murderer._

"I…I can't…" Shay whimpered. "Can't do this. Can't do this. Can't do this."

_You're going to ruin everything. Everything you've worked for._

"But-,"

_Now sleep. I'll take care of everything._

"Now's not a good time. I gotta… I gotta find out where the Light is and-,"

_I have things under control. It's fine._

"It's not fine!" Shay spat. "How the hell could it be, we don't have the Light!"

_No, but I've got these._

Shay felt her left hand stray toward her gun, and the other toward something else. She found it, ran her finger down it, and demanded, "Do you…do you have a knife?"

_So do you. _The voice was mocking her, and Shay sneered in spite of herself.

"When-,"

_Doesn't matter. Go to sleep. I'll fix everything._

"Like last time? Big pile of corpses, blood everywhere. Ringin' a bell?"

_Less blood this time, then. No corpses._

"No killing?"

_None. Promise._

Shay didn't respond. Shay was asleep.

* * *

Back when Shay's head was still lolling, Hatter opened his eyes to a blurry and unclear world. _What the heck?_ The man began to blink furiously, trying to clear the fuzzy nothingness that was his vision. As his surroundings came slowly into focus, however, he began to wish that he was still asleep.

The room was dark. Black and cold, seemingly made entirely of stone. Very old-fashioned; very cliché. Hatter would have laughed, had he not been somewhere between confused, terrified, and still asleep.

A cold metal strap around each of his wrists and ankles kept him firmly seated in a chair, and a wiggle of his arms and legs told him that he wasn't going anywhere fast. Hatter breathed in a long, deep breath of the musky air and tried to get his bearings. He failed, mainly because of one small thing.

_Alice_.

Okay, not so small.

Where was she? Had she been captured? Was she in danger? Was she here, too? And, now that he though about it, what the hell was 'here', anyway. Well, Hatter, I can answer that for you. Here. Noun. Somewhere very unpleasant that hadn't been updated since the Dark Ages and was in grave need of an interior designer.

That's right: I still have that dictionary. And it's about as helpful as ever.

Hatter sighed. There had to be some way out of here, didn't there? The metal that restrained him rendered that what is commonly known as "a stupid question". Despite that fact, he gave escape another go. That meant it was time for wiggling again, only more aggressively this time around. This "go" ended even worse than the first: in a situation that popular culture deems a "FAIL."

The chair fell over backwards.

And at that very same second, Shay's was doing the very same, although for entirely different reasons. Hatter hadn't pulled the chair down with him like she had. Instead, the chair had pulled him down with **it**. Still though. Two at a time. Not too shabby.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding." Hatter said, quite displeased with this most recent turn of events. He supposed it could have gone worse, but the fact remained that he was on the floor now. He didn't like the floor. It had given him a headache.

Ignoring all of that, Hatter tried to remember what had happened. All right, so he and Alice had been having their lovely romantic night. That had been good. But then, around dawn, they'd been ambushed by a small army. That hadn't been so good. And Alice? What had happened to Alice? He wasn't quite sure. Last thing he remembered, she had been fighting some guy. Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, giant scar down his face. Also, he'd been winning. Hatter decided that he didn't like that guy so much, and resolved to beat the crap out of him if their paths ever happened to cross again.

After that, however, Hatter could remember little else. He did remember, however, that he had hidden the Light of Wonderland long before any of that had gone on, which was probably why he was where he was (bad) and still alive (good).

It didn't tell him where Alice was, though (bad).

* * *

The door opened with a great and terrible creak.

_Nails down a chalkboard_.

Shay didn't really care about the sound past the fact that it was annoying as hell. She simply swung the door open and walked from the cold, dark dungeon cell into the cold, slightly less dark dungeon hall. The blonde didn't bother to sneak or look around for enemies. She merely set off at a brisk walk toward the stairs, the look on her face suggesting that she owned the place. Shay did not, in fact, own the place. That was okay, though.

She was good friends with the person who did.

* * *

**BEHOLD! Shay talked to herself for like half the chapter, and Hatter tipped his chair. Our main characters, everyone. Except Alice. She'll be around soon enough.**

**So, you know, Chapter Eight. Thanks to all of you guys for reading this and for all of your support. Remember, reviews make me do my happy dance!**

**(I have a happy dance? Hmm. You know, it probably involves Carameldansen...)**


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